Hathras Stampede: Supreme Court Refuses To Entertain PIL For Probe, Asks Petitioner To Approach HC

"Liberty to move the Competent HC in exercise of the jurisdiction under A 226 of the Constitution," the court said

The stampede took place at a religious congregation in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district on July 2 (Image: PTI)

Source : PTI

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation (PLI) seeking a probe into the Hathras stampede that left at least 121 people dead. The apex court asked the petitioner to move to the Allahabad High Court. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said such incidents are “disturbing” but the high courts are equipped to deal with such cases. 

"Everything does not have to come in a PIL under Article 32; you file in the High Court. The idea of all this is to make a sort of big deal about incidents which take place. Obviously (they are) very disturbing incidents. High Courts are robust Courts, they are meant to deal with these kinds of matters," Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud told the petitioner Advocate Vishal Tiwari, according to a report by Live Law.

Accordingly, the top court granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the concerned High Court. "Liberty to move the Competent HC in exercise of the jurisdiction under A 226 of the Constitution," the bench said.

Tiwari said the issue regarding the non-availability of proper medical facilities to deal with such incidents is a pan-India concern and the PIL can be dealt with by the Supreme Court also, but the CJI rejected the submission. 

The plea had sought the appointment of a five-member expert committee under the supervision of a retired apex court judge to probe the July 2 stampede incident. To ensure that such incidents are avoided in the future, the plea also prayed for a direction against State Governments to issue guidelines for cases where there is a large number of public gatherings.

The stampede took place at a religious congregation in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras district on July 2. Over 2.5 lakh devotees had gathered in Hathras district's Phulrai village for the 'satsang' conducted by Baba Narayan Hari, who is also known as Saakar Vishwahari and Bhole Baba. 

The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered an FIR against the organisers, accusing them of hiding evidence and flouting conditions with 2.5 lakh people gathering for the event in which only 80,000 were permitted.